- Jarret Stoll (photo: M. Zampelli)
With just six goals scored last season, the fewest of his career, some might jump to the conclusion that it was a down year for center Jarret Stoll.
But, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Late last April, he wristed a shot past Vancouver’s Cory Schneider in overtime to score what is likely the biggest goal of his career – and it came after he basically called his shot on MayorsManor the day before – openly declaring it was time for ‘Jarret Stoll Scores a Goal Day.’
Two months later he was a Stanley Cup champion.
But as the Kings returned to work on Sunday, the big goal from last spring wasn’t on the minds of many. Instead, they were trying to shake off the disappoint of Saturday night’s loss to those same pesky Canucks.
In a compacted, 48-game schedule time doesn’t permit much dwelling on the past though. The Kings will start this week with back-to-back games on Monday and play four total over the next six days.
And with three goals on the season so far, Stoll is already half way to his total production last year. All the while, he knows exactly what’s expected of him.
“Be a good penalty killer, be a good defensive player, try to be a plus-player when I can, and help our line chip in offensively and score some goals here and there,” said Stoll. “That’s one of the areas we have to get better at too, I still say that. I think that if a third line on a team, a fourth line, can chip in offensively and be a tough line to play against on a nightly basis, that’s going to be a tough team to play against. I think we saw that last year – the depth that a third or fourth line can bring. Whether you’re a checking line, or just a line that’s considered to be a two-way line and can play on both sides of the puck, I think that’s a very important piece to a team.”
So, what about stats, are there any particular numbers he looks at immediately following a game?
“Faceoff percentage, plus-minus, and maybe hits sometimes,” he revealed. “Sometimes it’s hard, you feel you had four or five or six hits and you look at the sheet and you have one or none. And you’re like, ‘Who’s up there counting?’”
From what it sounds like, when you’re fighting to get on the stat sheet, it’s not just about the players on the ice, guys are also fighting the various statisticians in different buildings too.
“I don’t know which buildings, but I know there are some buildings that are tougher for sure,” Stoll explained. “Even our building is pretty tough sometimes. But there are some buildings where it’s tough to get hits, and even shots. I know in Detroit, their shot clock is – I think it just keeps running on their side.”
Let’s dig in and see if there’s anything to this.
Last year, Stoll played an exact match, 39 home and 39 road games. He recorded 95 hits at Staples Center and only 70 on the road. The year prior, he played the same 41 games at home as he did on the road. Once again, his hit totals were stronger in LA, 93, compared to 71 away.
Things have evened up a little bit this season, where he’s averaged about the same number of hits in home and road games.
Interesting.
Now, on the shot totals, the story is a little different. Two years ago, when he was playing in a top-6 role with the Kings (usually as second line center), he shot the puck far more at home than on the road (113 to 74) . Then, when moved to the third line center last season, he saw the trend flip – taking more shots away from Staples Center. And that’s been a continuing trend this season, but to a ridiculous degree.
Stoll has just four shots on goal total in seven home games thus far in 2013, not even one shot per game. On the road, he has 23 shots in 12 games.
What does all of this mean?
He’ll likely have more hits than shots during the Kings’ busy schedule at home this week.
Looking at their first opponent, Stoll has managed only one shot total over two games vs. the Predators this season. So, tonight might not be his night.
Then again, it only takes one shot to score, right?
In his career Stoll has eight goals in 31 games played against Nashville – and the last one came January 6, 2011 at Staples Center.
When will it be ‘Jarret Stoll Scores Against Nashville Day’ again?
RELATED CONTENT: Jarret Stoll wants to clean things up
Note to webmasters/reporters: When recapping news or interviews from this site please include a link to www.MayorsManor.com
